The former Uruguayan president Jose Mujicaconsidered one of the main Latin American political references of the last decadesat almost 90 years old, sends a message to youth about not feeling “broken” and knowing how to recover from failures: “The true triumph in life is to get up and start again.”
“I ask young people not to feel brokenthat the true triumph in life is to get up and start over every time one falls in all areas: in work, in love and in hope,” says Mujica, who is recovering from radiotherapy treatment for the esophageal cancer he suffers from.
In his opinion, the new generations listen lessalthough not because of them, but “of a reality that does not allow them to dream.”
“When you are young you need a little utopia, to believe in something. Today’s world does not motivate young people. They get lost in atrocious consumerism or frequently get lost in loneliness,” he points out.
Now, he continues, youth have no dreams other than changing a car, buying something new or continuing to pay installments. “And since it’s not enough, because the market is always going to offer you new things, you have to invent laburos (jobs), because You need to earn more to pay for the consumption you are doing for the consumerist society. “And your life goes away”he states.
“If you become a bill payer for living on credit and you eat all the verses of the consumerist society, “You are going to be very useful for the accumulation of capital, but you are not going to have time to live your life,” Mujica continues.
Mujica, who He governed Uruguay between 2010 and 2015receives the EFE Agency at his farm in Rincón del Cerro, a modest rural property located on the outskirts of Montevideo where he lives with his wife, Lucia Topolanskyformer senator and former vice president and, like Mujica, member of the Frente Amplio.
He was a guerrilla, senator and president of Uruguay, the least populated country in Latin America, but Its political projection has global reach. Its simplicity, austerity and coherence have placed it as a political reference, especially among the new generations.
“For me, life is the adventure of molecules. We come from nothing and we go to nothing. Adventure is what makes us alive. But since it is something everyday we do not usually give it the value it has and in reality it is the most valuable thing of everything we can have,” reflects the former president.
A generous life
With his characteristic weighted speech, Mujica meditates on existence and says that He is slowly regaining health.
“I’m taking it. It took me longer than we thought (…) I’m better, but I’m still “It’s going to take me two or three months.” he says, referring to the esophageal tumor that was detected on April 29.
Treaty in Uruguay, despite being offered to do so in different countries around the world, indicates that In the sanatorium he was treated “like a king”but he prefers to be at home, surrounded by his friends. “That’s priceless”sentence.
Despite what he has experienced recently, “Pepe” Mujica emphasizes that He is happy and maintains that life is generous to him.
“Life has been generous to me, it hit me with every blow that God gave me. Seven years without books and in a room like this one or smaller. And I came out alive and became president. What more can I expect! (…) I have to give thanks to life. And the advice for young people is not to shrink.”he emphasizes, remembering the time he was imprisoned.
Mujica thus refers to the time that He was in prison for more than 12 years during the military dictatorship in Uruguay (1973-1985)due to his militancy in the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros, a leftist guerrilla group.
During his imprisonment, he was subjected to harsh conditions, including confinement in extreme isolation. He was released in 1985 with the return of democracy in Uruguay, after a general amnesty granted to political prisoners.
The importance of love
The former president emphasizes the importance of love and “leaving time for life.”
“There is nothing more important than love, but by far. You have to revere it, you have to take care of it. And when you are old, love still exists, but it is no longer the bonfire it was, but a sweet custom, a camaraderie, a way to escape lonelinesswhich is perhaps the greatest punishment,” he reflects.
When he was young, Pepe Mujica thought that humans could and should build a better society. “Today I still think the same thing, but it is not going to happen in our time”he concludes.
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